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The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band whose songs "Strange Days", "The Crystal Ship", "Five to One", "The Spy", "Roadhouse Blues", "Break on Through (To the Other Side)", "I Can't See Your Face in My Mind", and "My Eyes Have Seen You" were featured in the episode "Back in the World" of the series Miami Vice. With eight songs used, The Doors have the most pop songs used of any group, musical act, or in an episode of Miami Vice. Career The Doors got their start in 1965, when Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek got together and brought in John Densmore, later signing up Robby Krieger, completing the quartet. The began playing the L.A. club scene in 1966, including London Fog and the Whisky A Go Go, where they were the house band. After a performance where the president of Elektra Records was present, the band was signed to a record deal. Their self-titled debut album was released in 1967, which included the nearly 12-minute long opus, "The End" (a racuous performance of which got the band fired from the Go-Go), "Soul Kitchen" (later covered by the punk band X), "The Crystal Ship", and their first two singles, "Break on Through (To the Other Side)" and "Light My Fire", which hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Doors' live performance of "Light My Fire" on The Ed Sullivan Show created a firestorm of censorship controversy. Sullivan did not want Morrison to sing the line "girl we couldn't get much higher" because it implied drug use and wanted it changed to better. Originally the group complied, but when Morrison took the stage he sung the original lyric, prompting Sullivan to cancel six other Doors appearances he had planned. Earlier in 1967, Sullivan imposed his censorship standards on The Rolling Stones, who were forced to change the line "Let's spend the night '''together" to "Let's spend '''some time together" to much less controversy. Strange Days was the group's second album, featuring the title track, "Love Me Two Times", "People Are Strange", "My Eyes Have Seen You" and "I Can't See Your Face in My Mind", it reached #3 on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart, but quickly faded. Later in 1967 Morrison was arrested on-stage in New Haven, Connecticut, charged with indecency and public obscenity for going on a tirade to the audience, explaining the incident where the police caught Morrison making out with a fan in a bathroom stall. Waiting For The Sun was released in 1968, and marked their only #1 album. Their second #1 single, "Hello, I Love You" was on the LP, along with "The Unknown Soldier" (their take on the Vietnam War) and "Five to One". Morrison's opus, "Celebration of the Lizard", was not included in the original (but was included in the 40th anniversary re-release). Strangely, the title track would not be released until 1970. The Soft Parade was the fourth Doors album, released in 1969. Their single, "Touch Me" would be their final Top 10 single, and the album featured brass and string instrumentation. Another song on the album included "Wild Child" (both that song and "Touch Me" were performed live on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour), and was their fourth consecutive Top 10 album. Later in 1969 Morrison was arrested in Miami, during a performance at the Dinner Key Auditorium the singer allegedly exposed himself, public drunkenness, and other offenses. He was convicted, sentenced to six months in jail and a $500 fine. Morrison appealed his conviction, but the appeal was never heard. In 2010 the Florida Board of Executive Clemency pardoned Morrison posthumously for his indecent exposure conviction. 1970's Morrison Hotel had no Top 10 singles, but did feature "Roadhouse Blues", and "The Spy" along with "Waiting For The Sun", and was their fifth consecutive Top 10 album. The band's final public performance with Morrison was in December, 1970, to support their upcoming album L.A. Woman, which ended abruptly when Morrison destroyed the microphone platform, then sat down and refused to perform. L.A. Woman was released in 1971, including "Love Her Madly" and "Riders On The Storm" as well as the title track. Morrison moved to Paris in March, 1971, and died from heart failure (though drugs have long been rumored to have played a part) on July 3, 1971. His girlfriend, Pamela Courson, died three years later, both were aged 27 at the time of their deaths (part of the "Age 27 Curse" that has also claimed the lives of singers Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse). The remaining Doors played another two years before disbanding. However, new material is released periodically by Elektra, the albums Alive, She Cried (1983) and The Doors: Box Set (1997) contain previously unreleased live recordings. The movie The Doors was released in 1991 and a documentary by Dick Wolf, When You're Strange was released in 2010. Manzarek passed away on May 20, 2013, from cancer at the age of 74, leaving only Krieger and Densmore as the only surviving members. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. Category:Music performers